James P. Cannon
James P. Cannon
The labor organizer who read Trotsky's critique in Moscow and founded the American Trotskyist movement
“They had expelled the heart of their party; Trotsky had won over all the serious young activists, leaving only a dead husk.” — after the Socialist Party expelled the Trotskyists, 1937
A Kansas-born labor organizer of Irish descent, James P. Cannon helped found the Communist Party of America in 1919 and was elected to the Comintern Presidium in 1922. In 1928, after reading a misdirected critique of the Comintern by Trotsky in Moscow, he turned to the Left Opposition, was expelled from the CPA, and co-founded the Communist League of America. He led the landmark 1934 Minneapolis Teamsters strike, and in 1938 founded the Socialist Workers Party, becoming its first National Secretary. Imprisoned for 18 months under the Smith Act for opposing U.S. entry into World War II, he remained a central leader of the Fourth International and shaped the American Trotskyist tradition across four decades.
Career timeline
- 1908Joins the Socialist Party of America
- 1911Joins the IWW; organizes throughout the Midwest under 'Big Bill' Haywood
- 1919Founding member of the Communist Labor Party; District Secretary for KS, MO, NE
- 1922U.S. delegate to 4th Comintern Congress; elected to ECCI Presidium
- 1925Founds International Labor Defense; serves as its first national secretary
- 1928Expelled from CP for Trotskyism; co-founds the Communist League of America
- 1934Directs the historic Minneapolis Teamsters strike
- 1938Founds the Socialist Workers Party; elected first National Secretary
- 1944–1945Imprisoned 18 months under the Smith Act for anti-war stance
- 1953–1974Steps down as National Secretary, becomes national chairman emeritus; dies in Los Angeles
